Community Wealth Newsletter: November 2015

We release two new reports: Anchor Collaboratives: Building Bridges with Place-Based Partnerships and Anchor Institutions and Mission-led Employee-owned Firms: The Best of the Best.

We highlight the work of The Democracy Collaborative in the May 2019 special issue of In These Times magazine, “Getting to Zero,” which features an article on the need for democratic public control of electric utilities

We share the latest installment from our Elements of the Democratic Economy series and a resource on scaling worker cooperatives

We welcome Michellene Davis, Executive Vice President and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer of RWJBarnabas Health, to The Democracy Collaborative’s Board of Trustees

We release a new report, Energy Democracy: taking back power. Authored by Research Associate Johanna Bozuwa, the report examines both the benefits and challenges of publicly owned energy utilities and the steps needed to bring about energy democracy

We share about developments in community wealth building from Preston, England

We highlight the work of the Healthcare Anchor Network, and an upcoming symposium on the social determinants of health

We share the latest edition of the Metropolitan Universities Journal, published by the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities and guest edited by The Democracy Collaborative’s Manager of Higher Education Emily Sladek, focused on the Transformative Power of Anchor Institutions.

Research Intern Marie Therese Kane authored a blog post on the opportunity to connect student fossil fuel divestment campaigns to community investment strategies

We release a new entry in the "Elements of the Democratic Economy" series on Worker Cooperatives, and a new policy proposal for the creation of a Community Ownership of Power Administration

We share developments related to employee and community ownership, including an op-ed from Executive Vice President Marjorie Kelly in Fast Company, an article on the role of regional cooperative bankds from Research Fellow and Founder of the Real Economy Lab Jules Peck, and developments from our work with anchor institutions

We release a new installment of our CW City series: San Diego, California

We celebrate the launch of the Fund for Employee Ownership, a groundbreaking new investment strategy launched by the Evergreen Cooperative Corporation to expand the reach of employee ownership throughout Cleveland and Northeast Ohio

The Next System Project recently released a new paper on the Community Reinvestment Act, providing a historical analysis of the legislation and a framework for a next system of community reinvestment.

We release a new report Community Control of Land & Housing, as well as a new series, "Elements of the Democratic Economy"

The Next System Project published a new report Taking Climate Action to the Next Level, which outlines a bold climate agenda including quantitative easing for the planet, public ownership for energy democracy, and anchor strategies for the energy transition.

We celebrate the passage of the Main Street Employee Ownership Act, the first law in support of expanding employee ownership to pass Congress since 1997.

We highlight the latest issue of Renewal which features the growing transatlantic dialouge on community wealth building

We share recent developments around further building a transatlantic learning and action network between our organization and like-minded colleagues in Europe, and recent press pieces highlighting some of this work

The Democracy Collaborative convened two powerful gatherings of leaders who are working to leverage anchor institution resources to catalyze inclusive, economic development: the inaugural Anchor Collaborative Convening and the two-year old Healthcare Anchor Network’s bi-annual gathering

We release our annual impact report, highlighting the work we did in the last year to build community wealth and advance a more democratic economy

We share developments in community wealth building from Newark, NJ

We share President Ted Howard's remarks about the linkages between inequality, climate change, and the increasing imperative for systems change from his keynote to the Environmental Funders Network in Cambridge, England

We share several new community wealth building developments, including the launch of the Owíŋža Quilters Cooperative, the first business in a social enterprise strategy to create jobs and build community wealth on the Pine Ridge Reservation

We announce the Anchor Collaborative Convening, which will convene anchor collaboratives from cross the country to share lessons learned and best practices

We share a new one-pager outlining the 8 Basic Principles of Community Wealth Building

We announce the launch of the Higher Education Anchor Mission Initiative, a new partnership with the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities (CUMU) to advance the adoption of anchor mission strategies across higher education

We share developments around cities promoting community wealth building in the UK and in Rochester, NY

We share our top publications from 2017 and discuss developments in community wealth building over the last year, including the launch of the Healthcare Anchor Network; innovations from Preston, England; new work from the Next System Project on energy democracy; developments in employee ownership, and more.

We release the Anchor Mission Playbook, prepared by Rush University Medical Center (RUMC), which details the process that RUMC developed to better align their institutional resources—namely hiring, purchasing, investment, and volunteer base—with community health and well-being.

We provide an update on our work with three different peer learning cohorts of anchor institutions: the Healthcare Anchor Network, the Anchor Dashboard Learning Cohort, and the CFLeads Family Economic Security Action Alliance.

The Next System Project recently co-published a report with the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) on solutions to address inequality

Executive Vice President Marjorie Kelly authored an op-ed about supporting employee ownership as an alternative to corporate tax incentives as a way to build local wealth

We welcome Valerie Piper as the new Vice President of Engaged Practice at The Democracy Collaborative.

Executive Vice President & Senior Fellow Marjorie Kelly and Chief Financial Officer & Director, Employee Ownership Programs Jessica Bonanno were honored by the Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations with fellowships to further their research on employee ownership.

In an article in The Nation, Democracy Collaborative Co-Founder Gar Alperovitz, Next System Project Executive Director Joe Guinan, and Research Director Thomas Hanna put forward the idea of “quantitative easing for the planet,” in which the government would buy out fossil-fuel companies in order to keep unburnable carbon in the ground.

The Next System Project announced six winning original essays from the 2016 “What’s Next?” essay contest.

Democracy Collaborative President and Co-Founder Ted Howard and Democracy Collaborative co-founder and co-chair of the Next System Project Gar Alperovitz contribute an op-ed to the Chronicle of Philanthropyabout how funders can invest in he new “laboratories of democracy” to support innovative and scalable, local and regional wealth building models.

We release a new policy brief from the Next System Project, authored by Democracy Collaborative fellow Ellen Brown, founder and president emeritus of the Public Banking Institute, that explores alternative ways to fund and finance the rebuilding of America’s infrastructure.

A post-election statement from The Democracy Collaborative, emphasizing our commitment to continue to develop, implement, and project a powerful alternative that builds wealth and strengthens democratic life in communities across the country – with no one left out.

We launch our new toolkit series, Hospitals Aligned for Healthy Communities, produced with the support of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and designed to help hospitals and health systems build community wealth through inclusive hiring, investment, and purchasing.

We release of our latest report, Strategies for Financing the Inclusive Economy, which highlights tools for financing cooperatives as well as other broad-based ownership models such as employee stock ownership plans and municipal enterprise.

Journalist Jay Walljasper recently published a story in On the Commons magazine about a social enterprise endeavor led by Native American Natural Foods (NANF), a participant in our Learning/Action Lab for Community Wealth Building, a program to promote social enterprise and community ownership in Indian Country.

Executive Vice President and Senior Fellow Marjorie Kelly, Manager of Community Development Programs Sarah McKinley, and Associate of Community Wealth Building Research and Strategy Violeta Duncan contribute an article to the U.K.-based journal Renewal in which they outline the tenets of community wealth building and a vision for a more inclusive and sustainable economy.

A recent article in The Progressive discusses growing political interest in democratizing the economy and highlighted the work of Democracy Collaborative Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Next System Project Gar Alperovitz.

We welcome author, attorney, activist, and former candidate for California State Treasurer Ellen Brown to the The Democracy Collaborative team as a Fellow. Ellen is a founder of the Public Banking Institute.

As part of The Next System Project, we publish an article by Erik Lampmann on the importance of building LGBTQ justice into conversations about system design, as well as an essay from organizer Jennifer Bryant on a Washington DC-based cooperative that exemplifies Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard’s vision for a cooperative solidarity commonwealth

The Next System Project co-hosts a webinar on energy democracy in conjunction with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Local Clean Energy Alliance, Cooperative Energy Future,Alliance for a Green Economy, and the Sierra Club, and releases a new animation on David Bollier's proposal for "commoning" to change the current system.

The Next System Project Co-Chair and Democracy Collaborative Co-Founder Gar Alperovitz and Next System Project Director of Special Initiatives Ben Manski discuss the past, present, and future of the Teach-In movement in an op-ed published in Truthout, while Acronym TV and Counterpoint Radio feature interviews with Next System Project Teach-In Coordinator Dana Brown.

The Next System Project announces a national essay competition, calling for proposals on systemic alternatives. Winning essays by college undergraduates, graduate students and non-students are eligible for $5,000 prizes.

Our Co-founder and author of The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb Gar Alperovitz contributes an article to Salon that unravels the myths behind the United States' decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan.

The Guardian features our Executive Vice President and Senior Fellow Marjorie Kelly in aarticle on incorporating democratic ownership into the design of financial institutions.

The Next System Project Co-Chair Gus Speth and MIT's J. Phillip Thompson note the current opportunity to align civil rights and environmental movements to create deep systemic transformation in an article for The Nation.

We released a report, Rochester’s Market Driven Community Cooperatives Corporation. It was repared on behalf of Mayor Lovely Warren of Rochester, New York, and includes a feasibility analysis and implementation plan for the creation of employee-owned businesses in targeted low-income neighborhoods.

We inaugurated the Next System Project’s new teach-ins initiative with an exclusive interview with Noam Chomsky, in which he speaks about his campus activism experiences and his vision of a just society. We also released a re-cap of the Madison, Wisconsin and New York City teach-ins and watch as well as a highlights video from the New York City teach-in.

Director of Special Projects Steve Dubb recently published an article about the opportunities for community wealth building in Detroit in the Journal of Law in Society. Steve’s writing is also featured in the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies’ (BALLE) newly developed Shared Ownership Toolkit.

Communications Director John Duda appeared on Baltimore’s WYPR Radio, where he discussed worker-owned cooperatives.

In openDemocracy, Executive Director of the Next System Project Joe Guinan and Director of Research Thomas Hanna documented historical and contemporary experimentation with municipal enterprise in Britain in the United States in the context of the British Labour Party’s increasing focus on democratization and decentralization.

The Next System Project reaches a landmark first anniversary: we host the first Next System Project Teach-ins in Madison, Wisconsin and New York City, release a new curriculum on system change, publish four new papers on alternative systemic models, release a new video on economic democracy, and published several new articles and interviews.

We share the release of a Stanford Social Innovation Reviewarticle authored by Nick Tilsen, Executive Director of Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation, in which he discusses how philanthropy can better partner with Native American communities to support economic revitalization.

Sarah McKinley gives a webinar presentation as part of the Community Builders Webinar Series, which showcases developers, planners, and community leaders working to create stronger communities and diverse economies in the American West.

We recap our Cities Building Community Wealth gathering, which brought together mayors, leaders of city economic development departments, philanthropy, and community advocates for a discussion on creating more inclusive cities.

Next month, the Next System Project will host its first Teach-Ins in Madison, Wisconsin (March 3-6) and New York City (March 10-12).

Democracy Collaborative Co-Founder & Co-Chair of the Next System Project Gar Alperovitz contributed an article in The Nation, discussing how interesting experiments around democratized ownership and regionalism can be scaled up to build a new political economic system

We discuss recent developments in New Haven and other cities across the country that demonstrate a community wealth building approach taking root. Executive Vice President & Senior Fellow Marjorie Kelly discusses this further in an Aspen Institute panel

Democracy Collaborative board member and President of the Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers (WRAG) Tamara Copeland authored an op-ed for The Chronicle of Philanthropy about the need for philanthropy as a field to address racial inequity. In a blog post for the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE), Director of Special Projects Steve Dubb similarly notes the imperative of combatting disparities and highlights opportunities for impact investors to play a constructive role.

We congratulate India Pierce Lee, Program Director for Neighborhoods, Housing, and Community Development at the Cleveland Foundation for her recognition as an innovator in Cleveland

On January 29 we will host Cities Building Community Wealth gathering, held in partnership with the CUNY School of Law Community and Economic Development Clinic and the Surdna Foundation.

We are pleased to release a new paper, Broad-Based Ownership Models as Tools for Job Creation & Community Development, authored by Senior Fellow Marjorie Kelly, Director of Special Projects Steve Dubb, and Community Wealth Building Research and Strategy Associate Violeta Duncan.

In a recent newsletter, Raymond Baxter, Senior Vice President of Community Benefit, Research and Health policy at Kasier Permanente, shared The Democracy Collaborative’s most recent report Can Hospitals Heal America’s Communities? To learn more about this publication, tune into the Dialogue4Health webinar on January 27, which includes Manager of Healthcare Engagement David Zuckerman and Vice President of Total Health Partnerships at Kaiser Permanente Tyler Norris as presenters.

The Next System Project published a conversation between Kate Diedrick of Solidarity Research Center and Atlanta-based community organizer “Mother” Mamie Moore, in which Moore discussed her background as an activist and the importance of community control in fostering transformative change.

Co-Chair of the Next System Project Gar Alperovitz delivered a speech on “Community Wealth in the Age of Cooperation,” which was also livestreamed on Bloomington Community Radio’s Standing Room Only.

The Democracy Collaborative is now hiring. We are seeking an experienced Research Associate for our research department as well as a Research Assistant to work closely with Gar Alperovitz. Find more information, as well as application instructions, on our website.

Director of Special Projects Steve Dubb commented on the role of Community Development Credit Unions in an article in Yes! Magazine.

President & Co-Founder Ted Howard spoke at the German Marshall Fund’s Bilbao Urban Innovation and Leadership Dialogues (BUILD) conference in Spain; Executive Director of the Next System Project Joe Guinan and Director of Research Thomas Hanna discussed public ownership in an article in openDemocracy. Thomas also opened a Pennsylvania Public Bank Projectconference and webinar at the University of Pittsburgh.

Democracy Collaborative Co-Founder Gar Alperovitz delivered the opening plenary keynote address at the 2015 Social Capital Markets Conference (SOCAP), and published articles in Truthout, Yes! Magazine, and Al Jazeera. Gar also spoke at the 45th Annual Congressional Black Caucus Legislative Conference and on Boston public radio’sOpen Source with Christopher Lydon.

Our latest report, Educate and Empower: Tools for Building Community Wealth, was profiled in Forbes magazine, Shareable, MassLive & Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR). The Democracy Collaborative also hosted a webinar on practical strategies to empower residents to participate in community economic development.

Gar Alperovitz, co-founder of The Democracy Collaborative and co-chair of the Next System Project, published an article in the RSA Journal.

Gus Speth, co-chair of the Next System Project and senior fellow, was interviewed as a feature in the “Change Agent” series of the Great Transition Initiative, where he discussed his own environmental background and the goals of the Project.

Last month, Next System Project Executive Director Joe Guinan joined Social Capital Markets’ (SOCAP) Co-founder & Convener Kevin Jones and sociology Professor Juliet Schor to facilitate a twitter chat about the need for systemic change.

Steve Dubb contributed to Shelterforce magazine’s Rooflines blog on the subject of converting businesses to employee ownership, and Ted Howard recently had the opportunity to talk with Equitable Opportunity radio about the role anchor institutions and worker cooperatives play in building a more inclusive economy.

Thomas Hanna, director of research, and Marjorie Kelly, executive vice president and senior fellow, had articles featured by the Great Transition Initiative on public ownership & common wealth trusts.

The Atkinson Foundation released two reports in their series on community wealth building initiatives in Toronta: The Prosperous Province: Strategies for Community Wealth.

Cleveland’s Evergreen Cooperatives' highly innovative home-buyer program for employees was recently featured in Yes! Magazine, and Green City Growers was profiled in Crain’s Cleveland Business for its rapid growth.

We release of our latest report Educate and Empower: Tools for Building Community Wealth.

In the New York Times, Democracy Collaborative Co-Founder Gar Alperovitz and Research Director Thomas Hanna wrote about the prevalence of public ownership in the United States and how conservative states like Texas, Alaska, and Nebraska have embraced it as a means to provide social services and lower the public’s tax burden.

In The Nation, Gar marked the seventieth anniversary of Hiroshima by challenging Americans to face the reality that the atomic bombings were not, in fact, a matter of military necessity.

The Next System Project was cited in MintPress News and Gar discussed the effort on WBAI’s Building Bridges radio program and in an interview with Social Capital Markets (SOCAP).

In a piece for Medium, Director of Communications John Duda emphasized the need to think critically about who benefits from solar energy development, highlighting institutions and policies that are building wealth in low-income communities and communities of color while at the same time creating a more sustainable energy system.

The Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) profiled The Democracy Collaborative and the work of BALLE Local Economy Fellow Steve Dubb.

Recommended reads: Capitalism for Everyone: Encouraging Companies to Adopt Employee Ownership Programs and Broad-Based Profit Sharing from the Center for American Progress; Realizing Possibilities of the Connected Economy from the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society; City Financial Inclusion Efforts: A National Overview from the National League of Cities; and Building Financial Capability: A Planning Guide for Integrated Services from CFED.

We re-launch Community-Wealth.org website and release a new animated film explaining the community wealth building approach.

The Democracy Collaborative is hiring for the following positions: Office Administrator, Communications Associate, Special Assistant to the Co-Founder,and National Coordinator of Teach-Ins on the Next System.

Gus Speth, Co-Chair of the Next System Project and a Senior Fellow with The Democracy Collaborative, speaks about the imperative of taking a systemic approach to confront the environmental crises facing us in The Leap. The Next System Project also released a new video featuring MIT Associate Professor of Urban Politics Phillip Thompson.

We congratulate our partners in the Northwest Area Foundation-funded Learning/Action Lab for Community Wealth Building on several important milestones, as well as the Community Wealth Building Initiative for the launch of its first employee-owned company.

An article in New Start Magazine examines critical success factors in the development of Cleveland’s Evergreen Cooperatives. Manager of Community Development Programs Sarah McKinley was interviewed in the Polish publication Magazyn Miasta (Cities Magazine).

Democracy Collaborative Co-Founder Gar Alperovitz contrasts American and European urban challenges in City by City: Dispatches from the American Metropolis, a collection of essays co-published by the culture and politics magazine n+1

Recommended reads: Locking in the Promise to Buy Local from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston; Building Momentum from the Ground Up: A Toolkit for Promoting Justice in Policing from the The Center for Popular Democracy and PolicyLink; Increasing Financial Well-Being through Integration: Gaining and Sustaining Housing Stability from CFED; Land Banks and Land Banking: 2nd Edition from the Center for Community Progress.

We feature a short documentary about the Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation, a participant in our Learning/Action Lab for Community Wealth Building.

On May 20, we hosted the National Launch webinar for the Next System Project, moderated by Laura Flanders of GRITtv. We feature webinar panelists Angela Glover Blackwell, founder and CEO of PolicyLink, and Juliet Schor, professor of Sociology at Boston College, in two new videos from the Next System Project.

The Next System Project is featured in Waging Nonviolence and Treehugger. Research Director Steve Dubb discussed the trajectory of the new economy movement in Shelterforce magazine’s Rooflines.

The Democracy Collaborative Co-Founder Gar Alperovitz contributed an article to Al Jazeera, and draws on the Roosevelt Institute’s most recent report, Rewriting the Rules of the American Economy, written by Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz

Recommended reads: Cooperation among Cooperatives: Quantifying the Business Case for Credit Unions and Other Cooperatives, Filene Research Institute; Powerful Partners: Lessons from Community Foundations about Resident Engagement, CFLeads; Flexible Savings: The Missing Foundation for Financial Security and Economic Mobility, New America; Austin Co-Op Summit 2015: Local Government Support for Cooperatives, Democracy at Work Institute & Austin Cooperative Business Association

We release the public summary of our latest report, Healthcare Small Business Gap Analysis

We announce the establishment of Anchors for Resilient Communities (ARC), a partnership with Health Care Without Harm and Emerald Cities Collaborative.

The Next System Project is featured in The Nation, YES! Magazine and Orion Magazine. Articles in Grist and Next City highlight The Democracy Collaborative’s work in Cleveland, Baltimore, and Rochester. The cities of Philadelphia, Toronto and Preston, England launch anchor-based community wealth building strategies.

New C-W City: Indianapolis, Indiana

Recommended reads: Beyond Business as Usual: Putting Cooperation to Work in Austin, TX, Cooperation Texas; Our Kind of Town: A Financial Plan that Puts Chicago’s Communities First, The ReFund America Project, Roosevelt Institute; Successful Cooperative Ownership Transitions: Case Studies on the Conversion of Privately Held Businesses to Worker Cooperatives, Democracy at Work Institute and the University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives; Exploring Economic and Health Impacts of Local Food Procurement, Illinois Public Health Institute and the Crossroads Resource Center.

We launch the Next System Project and release the first Next System Project report, The Next System Project: New Political-Economic Possibilities for the 21st Century. On May 20at 3 pm EDT, we will host a free webinar on the project.

We release a new report, Community Wealth Building in Jackson, Mississippi: Strategic Considerations, which identifies opportunities to build a cooperative economy in Jackson, Mississippi linked to anchor institution procurement.

On April 28, The Democracy Collaborative will co-host a webinar with Project Equity on their latest report, Business Conversions to Worker Cooperatives: Insights and Readiness Factors for owners and employees.

In Nonprofit Quarterly, Democracy Collaborative Co-founder Gar Alperovitz discusses the growing wealth and income divide in the United States. Gar also co-authored an article with Senior Research Associate Thomas Hanna in YES! Magazine, in which they discuss net neutrality and community-owned broadband.

We announce that we will be working with the City of Rochester, New York to develop a plan to launch worker-owned cooperatives in partnership with local anchor institutions.

Politico Magazine highlighted the Evergreen Cooperatives and their role in the Greater University Circle Initiative in an article and video.

Our report A New Anchor Mission for a New Century was cited by Laura Flanders in YES! Magazine; Peter Berliner, managing director of Mission Investors Exchange; and Gerry Roll, Executive Director for the Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky.

We highlight the release of the Grassroots Economic Organizing (GEO) Collective's free e-book, Scaling Up the Cooperative Movement, co-edited by Democracy Collaborative Senior Research Associate Thomas Hanna. Additionally, Thomas’s blog on locally owned power in Nebraska was featured in Yes! Magazine.

We congratulate our friends and partners at the Roosevelt Institute | Campus Network for receiving the MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions.

Executive Director Ted Howard, Research Director Steve Dubb, and Senior Research Associate David Zuckerman presented at the 14th Annual New Partners for Smart Growth Conference.

In Alternet, Senior Fellow Gus Speth describes the current state of “uneconomic growth” in America, highlighting several locally rooted business forms that can support a transition to a people-oriented economy.

Community Development Associate Violeta Duncan describes community foundations’ transition from passive to active grantmaking in an article in Social Enterprise Canada.

Happy New Year and welcome to our January www.Community-Wealth.org newsletter. We start 2015 with the following developments:

Our most recent report A New Anchor Mission for a New Century was profiled earlier this month in Forbes magazine and the Stanford Social Innovation Review.

In an Al Jazeeraarticle, Democracy Collaborative Co-founder Gar Alperovitz argues for a guaranteed income to improve the plight of veterans and in a Truthout article Gar explores the challenges of structuring institutions of justice. Gar and the Collaborative are also cited in an article in Dissent magazine describing Reading, Pennsylvania’s rebuild Reading initiative.

We share the findings of the National Cooperative Business Association's exploratory journey (Democracy Collaborative Research Director Steve Dubb participated in the delegation) to learn about the conversion of state controlled enterprises into worker-owned cooperative in Cuba.

In December, our Executive Director Ted Howard presented at the Annual Learning Exchange of the Richmond based B-corp and CDFI, Virginia Community Capital.

The Democracy Collaborative highlights the accomplishments of this past year. We published four major reports and partnered with local leaders in communities around the country to design community wealth building strategies.

We look forward to 2015 and continuing our work on the Learning/ Action Lab for Community Wealth Building and The Anchor Dashboard Learning Cohort, along with a myriad of other projects, including the Next System Project.

We re-launch our web portal www.Community-Wealth.org early in the coming year.

We introduce our newest, C-W City: Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Though one of the most segregated cities in America, residents in Milwaukee are working hard to promote economic and social inclusion.

The Democracy Collaborative released a new report, A New Anchor Mission for a New Century: Community Foundations Deploying All Resources to Build Community Wealth.

We launched our Anchor Dashboard Learning Cohort, a group of universities that will work together to measure their impact in communities, and share results, challenges and successes.

Executive Director Ted Howard discusses the need for a new federal policy strategy to help cities leverage the economic might of their anchor institutions to benefit communities in the Center for American Progress’ TalkPoverty blog

Journalist Tanvi Misra discusses anchors as a place-based community revitalization strategy in The Atlantic’s CityLab.

In an openDemocracy article, University of Oxford political theorist Stuart White notes the role that community wealth building can have as a potential solution to widening inequality.

Fast Company magazine celebrates Thunder Valley Community Economic Development Corporation, a participant in our Learning/Action Lab for Community Wealth Building from the Pine Ridge Reservation.

The Democracy Collaborative released a new report, Policies for Community Wealth Building: Leveraging State and Local Resources.

The Washington Post published an article describing Richmond, Virginia’s newly established Office of Community Wealth Building. A New Republicarticle explored how cooperatives can support a green economy and a Yes! Magazinearticle focused on how land trusts, worker ownership, and public banking can help reduce inequality.

Democracy Collaborative co-founder Gar Alperovitz published an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times and appears in a jointinterview with economic geography scholar David Harvey, conducted by Journalist Laura Flanders of GRITtv.

New Report Outlines Emerging Best Practices in State & Local Policies to Build Community Wealth

Federal Commitment to Higher Workforce Standards Reduces Inequality

Communities Address Racial Inequity through Investment in Local Food Systems

The Democracy Collaborative is pleased to share our latest report, Building Community Wealth: An Action Plan for Northwest Jacksonville

Democracy Collaborative co-fonder Ted Howard discussed best practice approaches for measuring the impact of anchor institutions in a webinar hosted by the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC). He also moderated a plenary panelat CleanMed 2014 on the Cleveland anchor institution framework

Research Director Steve Dubb’s Leveraging the Power of Local Institutions presentation at the American Independent Business Alliance’s 2014 Go Local, Grow Local conference is also available

Working with the Northwest Area Foundation and Native American community development leaders from across the northwestern United States, The Democracy Collaborative recently wrapped up the first year of our “Learning/Action Lab for Community Wealth Building”

Report Outlines Agenda to Increase Financial Service Access in Communities of Color

Latino and African American Homeowners Face Continued High Levels of Underwater Mortgages

National Resource Network

The Working World

Democracy Collaborative co-founder Gar Alperovitz spoke on the keynote panel at the New Economy Coalition’s Commonbound Conference and gave the closing keynote address at the American Association for the Advancement of Science

We are pleased to announce the release of our latest report, Worker Cooperatives: Pathways to Scale.

Our Executive Director, Ted Howard, will participate in a plenary panel on “Cleveland’s Anchor Institution Framework” at the CleanMed 2014 national conference. He will also discuss best practice approaches for measuring the impact of anchor institutions in a free webinar.

Former Democracy Collaborative researcher, Thad Williamson, will soon begin his new job as Director of Richmond, Virginia’s Office of Community Wealth Building, the first office of its type in the nation.

Our co-founder, Gar Alperovitz, contributed a chapter on the new economy to the Worldwatch Institute’s State of the World 2014: Governing for Sustainability report. Gar expanded on his vision of a cooperative and community-sustaining economywith Editor Scott Gast of Orion magazine.

Join us on June 5 for a free webinar on “Measuring the Shared Value of Anchor Community Engagement,” hosted by the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City.

Democracy Collaborative co-founder Ted Howard spoke at the City of Memphis’ 2014 Neighborhood Redevelopment Conference on “Building Healthy Communities from the Inside Out.”

Ted Howard delivered the keynote address on “Closing the Wealth Gap: the Community Wealth Building Paradigm” at the German Marshall Fund’s Strong Cities, Strong Communities National Network Workshop in Cleveland.

Our research director Steve Dubb presented on anchor institution strategies and equitable development for a PolicyLink webinar and at the 25th anniversary conference of the Philadelphia Higher Education Network for Neighborhood Development.

Steve and research associate Dave Zuckerman were featured presenters at the MedStar Health Roundtable at Georgetown University.

Dave and research associate Sarah McKinley discussed impact metrics for anchor institutions at the Community-Campus Partnership for Health Conference along with David Perry of the University of Illinois, Chicago and Leif Elsmo of the University of Chicago Medical Center.

In its newest Field Guide to Investing in a Regenerative Economy, the Capital Institute outlines Cleveland’s Evergreen model.

In a DiversityInc interview, Orlando Santaella, a worker-owner of Evergreen Energy Solutions, talks about the transformative role that Evergreen has had on his life.

Co-founder Gar Alperovitz presented a keynote address at the Social Transformation through Social Innovationconference,

Gar discussed the merits of a guaranteed minimum income in this CNN article and appeared in a featured video on Upworthy.

Gar also questioned the assumption that economic growth is universally good in a recent Al Jazeera America article.

A free download of The Democracy Collaborative's chapter "Economic Democracy", featured in the new anthologyAchieving Sustainability: Visions, Principles & Practices, is now available.

Last month in Jacksonville, Florida, The Democracy Collaborative, the Office of Mayor Alvin Brown, and the Interfaith Coalition for Action, Reconciliation and Empowerment organized a day-long Community Wealth Building Roundtable.

The City of Chicago and six area anchor institutions have joined the University of Chicago to launch the Chicago Anchors for a Strong Economy (CASE) initiative and Ted Howard presented opportunities to incorporate anchor strategies into New Orlean's Prosperity NOLA plan at the Strong Cities, Strong Communities Bootcamp, hosted by the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

The Democracy Collaborative participated in an American Hospital Association sponsored webinar as well as the National Community Reinvestment Coalition’s annual conference to discuss strategies for hospitals to promote health through economic development and community investment.

Shared ownership models received widespread attention, including Cleveland’s Evergreen Cooperatives and Real Pickles, an organic food business. And we released our new community land trust infographic.

Truthout featured a conversation between our co-founder, Gar Alperovitz, and political theorist Michael Albert, in which they compared Albert’s Participatory Economics to Gar’s Pluralist Commonwealth political-economic system model.

Chapter on Economic Democracy Profiles Community Wealth Building Strategies

The Illinois Task Force on Social Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Enterprise released its final report to the Governor, incorporating a number of The Democracy Collaborative’s recommendations to build community wealth.

The Anchor Dashboard is highlighted in a Huffington Post article and the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland's Forefront magazine. It has also been picked up by the Roosevelt Institute’s Campus Network as a tool to evaluate the community impact of the Network's institutions.

Democracy Collaborative co-founder Gar Alperovitz appeared on Reality Asserts Itself on The Real News Network and contributed to the New York Times’ Room for Debate series, “Are Big Banks out of Control” as well as Al Jazeera, where he urges Janet Yellen, the new Chair of the Federal Reserve Board to priorize community wealth building.

The Democracy Collaborative releases a new webpage with infographics on community wealth building.

This month we interview Rey España, Director of Community Development at the Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA), one of the most successful urban Native American centers in the nation.

Commission to Build a Healthier America Focuses on Improving Community Wellbeing

The Collaborative welcomes Marjorie Kelly to our staff as a Senior Fellow and Director of Advisory Services.

We organized the first strategy workshop of the Next System Project, an initiative co-chaired by Democracy Collaborative co-founder Gar Alperovitz and prominent environmentalist Gus Speth.

The Anchor Dashboard encourages conversations about how to measure the impact of an anchor mission for low-income communities in a Federal Reserve audioconference, Governing magazine, and in Rooflines: The Shelterforce Blog.

Democracy Collaborative co-founder Gar Alperovitz appeared on Russia Today’s Breaking the Set to discuss his new book, What Then Must We Do?.

The Anchor Dashboard encourages conversations about how to measure the impact of an anchor mission for low-income communities in a Federal Reserve audioconference, "Redefining Rustbelt: The Role of Anchor Institutions and the Arts", a panel hosted by the Municipal Arts Society of New York on "The Role of Large Institutions in City Building", and a webcast briefing at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Our Anchor Dashboard paper, designed to help institutions assess the long-term impact of their economic development activities, was featured in a presentation at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of University Partnerships, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond’s Redefining “Rust Belt” four-city videoconference, The Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities’ annual conference, the Municipal Arts Society Summit for New York City, and at the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City’s Inner City Economic Summit in Cleveland.

Community Wealth Building Key to Democratizing the Economy

C-W Interview: Reverend Barry Randolph

Book Explores Equitable Solutions to Global Environmental Challenges

New Series Investigates Community Wealth Building Inititatives Across the Nation

Growing Opportunities to Invest Directly in Communities Builds Local Economies

Our Anchor Dashboard paper, designed to help institutions assess the long-term impact of their economic development activities, was profiled in Next City and on the San Francisco Federal Reserve’s "What Works" website.

The release of The Democracy Collaborative’s latest paper and online tool The Anchor Dashboard: Aligning Institutional Practices to Meet Low-Income Community Needs, and companion research report Achieving the Anchor Promise: Improving Outcomes for Low-Income Children, Families and Communities

The Democacy Collaborativeconvened our first gathering of Native American community development leaders in a “Learning/Action Laboratory for Community Wealth Building” supported by the Northwest Area Foundation

Gar Alperovitz presented a keynote address at the Annual Conference of the Academy of Management

The Capital Institute released video highlights from a symposium entitled “Beyond Sustainability: The Road to Regenerative Capitalism”

Welcome to our July www.Community-Wealth.org newsletter. We celebrate the 237th anniversary of the American Revolution with a number of new developments:

The Democracy Collaborative and the Responsible Endowments Coalition (REC) will host a webinar on July 19 at 1pm presenting the findings of our jointly published report Raising Student Voices: Student Action for University Community Investment

Welcome to our May www.Community-Wealth.org e-newsletter. This month we have a number of updates and features to bring you:

The Democracy Collaborative and the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT present the findings of our recent case study: The Anchor Mission: Leveraging the Power of Anchor Institutions to Build Community Wealth.

The Democracy Collaborative announces a new partnership with the Northwest Area Foundation and several Native American tribes on a community economic development “Learning/Action Laboratory.”

Democracy Collaborative co-founder Gar Alperovitz continues his national tour promoting his latest book, What Then Must We Do?and accompanying film, The Next American Revolution.

Welcome to our latestwww.Community-Wealth.orge-newsletter, with a new look for 2013. In this winter edition, we bring you a host of new developments and site features:

The Democracy Collaborative and the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT will release the findings of our case study: The Anchor Mission: Leveraging the Power of Anchor Institutions to Build Community Wealth.

The third business in Cleveland’s Evergreen Cooperative network, Green City Growers, has planted its first crop of leafy greens.

Walter Wright of the Cleveland Foundation and I led a “Local First” webinar for our friends at BALLE.